Bloods / scan / ankles

[MightyPC]

Can a fbc or lft indicate whether or not you have muscle wasting or body mass loss on legs, chest and arms?
Can an abo ultras can show ascities and does anyone have indents when removing socks at the end of the day?

[nomorepanic]

You really need to ask a medical professional these questions as we are not qualified to answer to be honest.

fbc and lft will not detect muscle wasting as far as I know though

[countrygirl]

As Nicola says were are not Drs. All I can say from experience is that the tests for muscle wasting etc are called emg tests that involve sticking needles in your muscles and sending electrical impulses down them, but you would need evidence of actual muscle wasting or loss of use for a Dr to send you for this type of specialist test.

A full blood count is a good mot for indicating if further tests are needed for alot of conditions but not any neuro ones as obviously this test only tests for conditions that affect your blood in some way.

Ascites or fluid in the abdominal space is usually picked up on an ultrasound, my cousin had this and it was picked up on a routine ultrasound but ascites is usually a sign of something serious going on and nothing to do with any possible sweeling of your legs etc.

Its normal to have indents on your legs when removing socks!

[MightyPC]

Thanks Countrygirl. I've had a kc blood test which I believe shows if there is damage to heart muscle, not sure if this is indicative to all muscles. My concern is liver problems.
Thanks again

[countrygirl]

The heart blood test is purely to show if you have ahd a heart attack as your heart releases proteins if it is damaged and they circulate in your blood for about 3 days after a heart attack but this is very specific to a heart attack and nothing else.

I assume your worry about your liver is also connected to ascites in abdomen as you must have read up on symptoms naughty!

[MightyPC]

Hi Countrygirl, yes. My stomach ballooned a year ago and I've experienced vast weight gain on the scales but my shirts are loose around my chest, arms and my trousers are loose around the thighs and legs. I've had 2 abo us this year and both reports mark on my liver being coarse and echogenic and they remark is consistent with fatty infiltration, which they say can be due to high chloresteral. My level has now dropped to 5.3 so I don't think this is the case I'm thinking cirrohsis. I had a scan back to 2008 and I had no evidence of fat in the liver. My lft are okay apart from alt which fluctuates between 52 and 64 and bilirubin which fluctuates from 14 to 32. Strange because my bilirubin was less when I didn't fast. My memory isn't as good and I really have to think at work when writing emails or letters as I can miss words out and nothing makes sense etc. I'm worried I've got high ammonia in my blood stream that is causing this. Will also add that my kidney function is ok even though they found a very large cyst and fbc all ok. I'm also experiencing terrible fatigue all the time.

---------- Post added at 22:30 ---------- Previous post was at 21:35 ----------

Forgot to mention, my esr or Crp was raised at 14, the range is to 10

[stacy1912]

Hiya stranger!

The ultrasound would show ascites and more! My socks always leave a dent in my legs by the end of the day, that is gravity i think and perhaps due a little bit to my fatty liver problem! I am still doing good fighting this problem! I am still losing weight slowly and trying to be as active as possible :) Now off my antidepressants too which is helpful!

However I still feel completely knackered (although cant sleep well and I am awake early), sicky at times and not 100% but that is to be expected! My inflammatory markers were high when i was at my worst and LFTs will only show what is going on with your liver nothing else.

Try not to worry and keep working towards a healthy liver :) remember it will repair itself even when quite poorly. My GP has told me recently that medical science always believed that fibrosis and early stages of cirhosis could not be reversed but they are now seeing that they can :)

Take Care

Stacy

[LittleMissSleepy]

I'm glad you mentioned the ankles and sock indents MightyPC. I was beginning to wonder if this was normal or a side effect of a sedate lifestyle or worse - edema brought on by Meds ? It's worse after warm weather. Hope you are feeling better soon. I empathise with the feeling tired all the time. I also lost a lot of muscle mass but that was due to loss of appetite.